and he'll mone is firstay of wk to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. in like a lion, a winter storm battering the midatlantic and washington, d.c. at this very moment. a state of emergency in at least five states. thousands of flights delayed or cancelled, the federal government closed. it is just the latest dose of weather in what for some feels like the neverending winter. he's called the blade runner, oscar pistorius pleading not guilty. the first witness who took the stand in south africa describing blood curdling screams from the night it happened. and "12 years a slave" is best picture, complete with pizza delivery, a twitter world record, and heartfelt acceptance

speeches. >> to those of you out there who have ever felt injustice because of who you are or who you love, tonight i stand here in front of the world with you and for you. >> good morning, i'm chris jansing. those stories all coming up, but first, we begin with a showdown with russia and the escalating crisis in ukraine. pressure is mounting on the u.s. and the west to do something as russia tightens its grip on ukraine and shows new signs of aggression. russian fighter jets flew over ukraine's air space over the black sea last night. in just three days, troops occupied crimea without resistance or without ever firing a shot. ukraine's prime minister calls it a declaration of war. secretary john kerry is being sent to kiev tomorrow. >> this is an act of aggression that has completely trumped up in terms of its pretext. it's really 19th century

behavior in the 21st century. russia is playing a very duplicitous game and very dangerous game. >> this is a photo the white house released of president obama and vladimir putin on the phone saturday, for what's been described as a tense 90 minutes. the day before the president warned that there will be consequences for the aggression, but what cost? republicans are skeptical. >> every time the president goes on national television and threatens putin or anyone like putin, everybody's eyes roll, including mine. we have a weak and indecisive president that invites aggression. >> i think putin is playing chess and i think we're playing marbles, and i don't think it's even close. if you look at the nuclear negotiations, we got our fannies handed to us. >> so much to talk about, let's bring in david rode and mark ginsburg. gentlemen, good morning. i'm sure you heard this called the biggest foreign challenge of the obama presidency.

what's at stake here? >> huge amount's at stake, republicans are pouncing on the president saying he's a weak leader and there's a premise here. yes, they expect economic forces to force putin to pull back in crimea, that he's not going to play this game because the russian stock market's going to drop, but other people say, no, we've been caught flat footed and putin is secure enough he can carry this out. >> before we get to what does the u.s. do about it, there is this question i'm not sure has been fully answered, what exactly does vladimir putin want here? >> chris, what he wants, essentially, is to legitimate his control over ukraine, which has a significant ethnic russian population, both in crimea, as well as in eastern part of ukraine. number one. number two, his hand-picked puppet, who was the deposed

leader, was doing his bidding in kiev and what he wants to do is keep ukraine out of the european union. he does not want to have europe encroached further on what he considers to be russia's doorstep. >> so the question then becomes, david, for the average american sitting at home, why do i care? why do i care if this country in the center of europe, whether they are part of the european union or not, what does it mean to me and why should america consider even getting involved here? >> it means a great deal, because china is sitting back and watching this, and china has been making moves in the pacific they want to dominate militarily and economically. it matters because this is a step towards very unstable international system, where countries essentially carry out military actions on their own. critics of the u.s. say we're part of the problem, invasion of iraq and kosovo that did not have u.n. approval set this

precedent. americans say this is crazy, much worse, no russians have been threatened. putin sent in unmarked vehicles and soldiers. there's no reason for this. he's setting a terrible new low in terms of intervention. >> secretary of state john kerry said the last thing anybody wants is a military option, but he did outline some of the potential consequences for putin on "meet the press," so let me play those. >> he is not going to have a sochi g8, he may not even remain in the g8 if this continues. he may find himself with asset freezes on russian business, american business may pull back, there may be a further tumble of the ruble. >> even earlier this morning on "morning joe," ambassador, we heard from senator chris murphy who said let's restrict the visas of russian oligarchs so they can't go to vacation homes. what realistically can the u.s. do here? >> chris, one thing we have to do here is we have to stop

talking and start acting. when i say acting, we should be throwing the kitchen sink diplomatically and economically at putin for doing this. if he does not stop now, he is most likely going to send forces into eastern ukraine above the crimea and, in effect, try to divide that country in two and take over significant portion of that country. that means the european allies have to be onboard. and let me tell you something, we haven't seen a great deal of leadership out europe yet o far. while it takes the president of the united states and our nato allies to act in unison, we should be doing every conceivable thing to isolate putin internationally. >> push him out of the g-8? >> absolutely, kick him out of the g-8. >> merkle indicated they are not willing to do that. >> there's a perfect illustration of that. how are you supposed to stop someone lightning him who operates in a completely different dimension than the rest of the world and expect him

to begin calculating the cost of european allies or let him stay in an organization he, frankly, has no business being in in the first place. >> brings up a good point, who exactly are we dealing with here, because "the new york times" reported after angela merkel spoke with mr. putin, he said to president obama that she wasn't sure putin's in touch with the world. the phrase "the new york times" quoted her as using, he's in another world. >> he is, but he is a chess player and he's definitely outplayed the west here. germany gets 60% of its natural gas from russia. that's why merkel is hesitant to escalate because they depend on russia for their entire economy. he knows that and why he's thought this through and several steps ahead of us. the most important sanction is russian banks, similar against iran in the nuclear negotiations. that was raised yesterday, they said they didn't want to comment, but that's still on the table, but it's a very difficult

and dangerous situation. >> let me just quote some of the things in editorials this morning and i think they speak to what you were talking about, ambassador, from "the washington post," president obama's foreign policy is based on fantasy, they say, "president obama has led a foreign policy based more on how he thinks the world should operate than reality." this is from "the wall street journal," ukraine is in a causality of how obama should enforce the red line on syria. when a superpower issues a ultimatum and then blinks, others notice." this is a president who believes policy can work. >> i don't believe that criticism is justified. look, let's be real, syria's one thing, and i've been pretty tough on this administration's syria policy, but there is, after all, a real historical issue here involving crimea and russia and ukraine, and the fact of the matter is, is that what

do these republicans expect, the president to go to nato and invade russia and, in effect, stop him in crimea? that's out of question. the key here is tough sanctions and make sure putin understands there are going to be consequences. the last thing we need to do here is just talk around in circles. >> how quickly, though, would the sanctions, particularly economic sanctions, have any impact to change at least in the short-term, what vladimir putin seems to be doing, david? >> it would take a long period and putin is calling europe's bluff, would you put the sanctions in that would hurt europe's economy and germany's economy? what he's saying, yes, it's the 21st century, but when it's a leader that will use military force, vladimir putin, assad in syria, they don't care about silicon valley. that's the reality on the ground. >> great to have you here. your insights always much

appreciated. thank you both. checking the news feed this morning, add to another hot spot of tension, north korea. firing two more short-range missiles into the sea this morning. this is the second time they've done that in less than a week. it comes as the u.s. and south korea are taking part in routine joint military exercises. north korea has said it sees the drills as preparation for an attack. it's been a dramatic first day in the murder trial of olympian oscar pistorius. the first witness, a neighbor, testified she heard blood-curdling screams from a woman, followed by gunshots and a male voice yelling for help. pistorius pleaded not guilty for killing his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, on valentine's day last year. he said she thought she was an intruder. history was made, "12 years a slave" took home best picture, first movie by an african-american director to win. best speech of the night,

emotional after winning for best supporting actress. >> it doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's. when i look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you're from, your dreams are valid. >> both male acting awards went to "dallas buyer's club." matthew mcconaughey, best actor for his role as an aids patient and activist. cate blanchett won best actress for "blue jasmine." first latin american director to win. the film won seven awards total, the most of the night. and let us not forget the host, ellen degeneres, she got a pizza delivery, handing it out to the crowd, also took selfies throughout the show and we'll have more on her history-making tweet coming up. pizza looks good. to say the least, it's been a very rough winter and while it

may be the first monday in march, it's not over yet. they caught a break in philly, but if you're traveling more than 2,000 flights have been cancelled so far. we'll get a check of the forecast coming up. plus, president obama enlisting democratic governors to help him fight for an increase in the minimum wage, but will the storm around washington and ukraine overshadow domestic issues again? we'll talk to caroline maloney after the break. [ ship horn blows ] no, no, no! stop! humans. one day we're coming up with the theory of relativity,

the next... not so much. but that's okay. you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from liberty mutual insurance. total your car, and we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. learn about it at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

♪ make every day, her day with a full menu of appetizers and entrées crafted with care and designed to delight. fancy feast. love served daily.

as enormous as the challenge is for president obama in ukraine, this major foreign policy challenge has another very real impact. will it be a distraction for the president and congress, taking some attention away from important domestic priorities? let's start with the minimum wage, for example. this was house democrats last week trying to push pressure on

republicans to vote to raise it to $10.10. congresswoman caroline maloney of new york joins me now. always good to have you here, thank you. it is interesting, we're not seeing a big fight among the president and house republicans on ukraine. i want to play for you what the house foreign affairs committee had to say yesterday. >> you're going to find a house very cooperative with the administration on this. first, the reset with russia is over, and now it's time to respond with strength. i think it's important to talk about economic sanctions, it's important to talk about aid to the ukrainian people. >> congresswoman, you have a sizable ukrainian population in your district, so this is important to your constituents. do you see congress getting behind sanctions, what kind of sanctions, and would you support them? >> absolutely. i believe congress will speak with one voice and show our deep concern that both parties and america united as well as the free world in support of the

ukraine people. i certainly support and we are supporting the imf and the world bank and moving with the new government to provide economic support, and already there's been harm to russia. their exchanges fell 10%, the ruble to the euro is the lowest it's ever been. it's fell 10%, and i believe that the free world will send a message that we will be united, we will be strong. we are looking at economic sanctions, we're looking at -- >> should, for example, there be sanctions against the three large russian banks, do you think that would be something? >> absolutely. it worked in iran, it should work here. incidentally, chris, as putin pushes for the sovereignty of iran and syria, then he is violating the sovereignty of the ukraine, so he's very hypocritical, and the whole world is watching and the whole world, i believe, will be inspired and work hard for -- we could rework trade agreements, we could rework business agreements, you could freeze

assets, you could freeze visas. >> what would make a difference quickly, because as we all know, the problem with some of these economic sanctions is it doesn't work overnight. in fact, in some cases the real impact isn't felt for years. >> already there's been an economic action. the markets have fallen, the value of the ruble has fallen 10%, the lowest point it's ever been against the euro, so there's already been actions. i think swift actions can be felt quickly in this particular case. >> does that concern you? the dow is down 173 points. >> it's going to hurt the world economy, but particularly hurt russia. during this time when we are trying to work together to improve the economy worldwide, it's important, but i represent a very large and vibrant ukra e ukrainian community, five ukrainian churches are in the district i am privileged to represent. they are praying for their relatives, their people, their deep concern of the people.

they are making memorials to the fallen. they are reaching out and sending aid in any way. they have called for particularly medical aid and hospitals and doctors that are willing to accept people that have been seriously harmed. they are reaching out in many ways, but i feel the whole world is watching and the whole world is inspired by the ukrainian people and their effort for peace and justice and liberty, things that we as americans take for granted. >> while this international crisis is being dealt with by the president, he's going to be going to hartford on wednesday because there are domestic issues i mentioned, minimum wage at the forefront. here he is at the dnc winter meeting last week. >> and it gives businesses more customers with more money to spend and the economy grows for everybody and those employers, because they've got more customers and are making more profits now decide to hire more workers. it is a virtuous cycle we can create. it is time to give america a

raise or elect more democrats that will do it. >> this is an argument he's been making for awhile. what's it going to take for republicans to raise the minimum wage? >> well, i was at that dnc conference and he was on fire and everyone else was and they are going to take this message out to an election. certainly, americans deserve a raise. no worker should have to live in poverty and some corporations give them lessons on how to access food stamps and other government programs, saying we know you can't live on what we're faing you. meanwhile, the republican party works to cut the food stamps and nutrition programs and they pay the fare. >> they agree with the president to the point they want to end this gap between the rich and poor, but their approach, led by congressman paul ryan, is to focus on welfare reform, overhauling social programs. the message is, we can't afford them and it was a better way. your response to that. >> anyone is anxious to look at any way to improve the efficiency and to modernize

programs that have been a safety net to americans, but they are there as a safety net. social security is not an investment scheme. it's a safety net that people have paid into, as is medicare and medicaid, and these programs have over time provided a safety net to american people. democrats created these programs over the objections to the republican party. are we surprised they still want to roll back and erase these programs? we've had numerous votes to repeal the health care plan, well, if you don't like the health care plan, then prove it, but don't repeal it for people who don't have health care, and the same thing for social security. if you can make it better, more efficient, fine, but don't repeal a program that has helped americans live in dignity in their older years. we are proud of fdr and johnson and all of the great presidents and great democratic party that helped build this safety net for americans and we will fight to preserve them. i remember during bush, they wanted to privatize social

security. could you imagine? there would be no safety net for the seniors, they'd be sleeping on grates on the streets. it's outrageous. we made a point this is not an investment scheme, this is a safety net program our workers are paying into and it should be there for them in their golden years and we will fight to make sure the programs are there, but will we work to modernize them and strengthen them, are we open to new ideas? certainly. >> this is going to be the argument in the midterms. congresswoman caroline maloney, great to see you. still snowing in the nation's capital, massive power outages because of freezing rain. 30,000 without power in tennessee, 22,000 in texas, another 21,000 in arkansas. we'll be checking in with meteorologist bill karins right after the break. [ dennis ] it's always the same dilemma --

who gets the allstate safe driving bonus check. rock beats scissors! [ chuckles ] wife beats rock. and with two checks a year, everyone wins. [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call 866-906-8500 now. [ dennis ] zach really loves his new camera. problem is...this isn't zach. it's a friend of a friend who was at zach's party and stole his camera. but zach's got it covered... with allstate renters insurance. [ female announcer ] protect your valuables for as low as $4 a month when you add renters insurance to your allstate auto policy. call 866-906-8500 now. what are you doing? we're switching car insurance. why? because these guys are the cheapest. why?

good question. because a cut-rate price could mean cut-rate protection. you should listen to this guy. [ female announcer ] with allstate you get great protection and a great price, plus an agent! drivers who switched saved an average of $498 a year. call now and see how much you can save. just a few more ways allstate is changing car insurance for good. [ female announcer ] call an allstate agent and get a quote now. [ female announcer ] call an allstate agent predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. yes, the calendar says march, but it certainly doesn't

feel like we're closer to spring. another snowstorm battling parts of the east coast. washington, d.c. seems to be getting the worst of it right now. more than 2,000 flights have been cancelled. governors have declared states of emergency in new jersey, tennessee, delaware, mississippi, and virginia. let's start our coverage with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> west coast, they sent us here. the west coast sent this storm across the country. >> blame it on them. >> get, like, one rainstorm every year. >> this is shifted from what we expected. >> it did shift. friday it was centered up towards indianapolis, over the weekend it shifted south and really hit areas of tennessee, kentucky, arkansas, even dallas had a lot of sleet out of it. now this morning it's centered over virginia and washington, d.c. and it's amazing for martha it's 19 degrees during the week.

it snows in march, but new york city has had a coating. four to eight in d.c. and richmond doesn't get many snowstorms in march. three to six inches, tonight you're going to be shoveling snow. talk about a crazy roller coaster. dallas, 2 degrees. wherever you had the sleet yesterday, it's still on the grounds, roads are still treacherous from that, and no end in sight, unfortunately. tonight we're down to 6 in philly, 9 in d.c. these are close to the all-time coldest temperatures we've ever seen in the month of march. unfortunately, one week from now, here's the weather pattern, chris. we have this huge dip in the jet stream. it allows the cold air -- we are cold in the eastern half of the country at least until the middle of march. no break in this pattern. none. if it's this cold, sooner or later it will probably snow again. >> bill karins, we appreciate that. of course, trying to get anywhere this winter has been absolutely a nightmare, it's been exhausting, governor chris

christie closed state offices, told new jersey residents to be careful. my colleague ron allen is checking the commute in atlantic city, new jersey, how's it looking on the roads there, ron? >> looking pretty bad. pretty bleak, chris. there's several inches of snow on the road and some plows going by, salt trucks, new jersey does seem to have enough of that this time around, but it's pretty bad out here. fortunately, a lot of people are staying at home. this is atlantic city, new jersey. as you look ahead of us, you can see this is usually boardwalks and beaches and all that sort of thing. it's nothing like that today. it's just a complete white situation down here. it's supposed to snow on until the early afternoon. the forecast called for as much as eight inches or so here. we're not sure how much they've gotten, probably a few inches on the ground already. schools are closed, businesses are closed here, and it's similar in delaware and philadelphia where the mayor closed schools late last night. so here, again, it's just

amazing. i think this is the 17th or 18th storm that we've seen in new jersey. better up north, but down here in south jersey, it's really, really difficult to get anywhere. again, good thing people are staying inside and taking the day off. >> be careful out there, ron, thank you so much. my must read today, a riveting account from "the wall street journal" of one of the great sports comebacks of all time in a sport that frankly i didn't know anything about before reading it. it's on our facebook page. let us know what you think. that. so i got the new nokia lumia icon. it's got 1080p video, three times zoom, and a twenty-megapixel sensor. it's got the brightest display, so i can see what i'm shooting -- even outdoors, and 4 mics that capture incredible sound. plus, it has apps like vine -- and free cloud storage. my new lumia icon is so great, even our wipeouts look amazing. ♪ honestly, i want to see you be brave ♪ ♪

olet's say you pay your tguy around 2 percent to manage your money. that's not much, you think except it's 2 percent every year. does that make a difference? search "cost of financial advisors" ouch! over time it really adds up. then go to e*trade and find out how much our advice costs. spoiler alert. it's low. really? yes, really. e*trade offers investment advice and guidance from dedicated professional financial consultants. it's guidance on your terms not ours that's how our system works. e*trade. less for us, more for you.

to nbcuniversal's coveragens of the biggest loser olympic winter games ever, with the most coverage of the most events on every device. and the most hours of streaming video on the nbc sports live extra app, including the x1 platform from xfinity. comcast was honored to bring every minute of every medal of nbcuniversal's coverage to every screen. so what's next? rio 2016. welcome to what's next. comcast nbcuniversal.

[ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® this is mike. his long race day starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines" the white house has announced its first direct response to russia's military intervention in ukraine. the u.s. suspended preparation for the g-8 summit set to take place this june in sochi. meantime, defense secretary chuck hagel is advising caution. >> this is a time for careful, wise, steady leadership.

the tensions increase, and i think all nations have to be very careful here of not promoting anymore tension through provocative actions. >> joining me now from the white house, nbc's peter alexander. here in studio, nbc political analyst jonathan alter. good to see both of you. first to you, peter. we know the white house briefing was cancelled because of weather. we also know there is plenty going on inside the white house as it relates to ukraine. what do we know about the options they are considering there? >> obviously, we know secretary of state john kerry will be dispatched to the center of this crisis, ukraine, kiev specifically. over the last several days, senior administration officials, the president, have been involved in communicating and trying to get everybody onboard and united. g7 nato leaders, european allies. as a senior administration official described to us right now, as the u.s. considers this sort of economic assault on russia right now, in the words

of this administration official, the russians are thinking distinctly 19th and 20th century terms in terms of their military intervention in ukraine right now, and he said this administration official said, it's important that russia views this as a 21st century world when it comes to the economy, that all nations are dependent. you talked about the cancellation of the plans ahead of this year's g8 to take place in june in sochi, really all bilateral events, as we understand it right now, basely had the brakes put on them, have been cancelled. naval corporation efforts have been cancelled. there was a u.s. trade representatives office intending to go to moscow, those have been cancelled, as well. >> one fundamental issue here, the relationship between vladimir putin and barack obama. politico's headline is, putin/obama relationship in deep freeze. last september the president cancelled one-on-one meetings

with putin after temporary asylum was granted to edward snowden. how does this relationship factor into this geopolitical crisis? >> it's very important. they spoke for 90 minutes on the phone the other day, and i think some day historians will have a great time with what was really said on those calls. >> just the photograph, the body language of the president, was prosecu pretty -- >> here's the thing i'm keeping in mind as this unfolds. the press is trying to put a frame on this that is, is obama tough enough, which is a very, very dangerous frame to put on this story. this is how, you know, we got into vietnam, this is a not what you want the president feel iin pressure on. he has to make a complex decision in a complex set of circumstances, not be under

pressure to prove his manhood. >> and i think it's important to point out that this is a president who has elected with a platform that was noninterventionist and americans don't have an appetite for military intervention, so where does that leave him? >> with not very many options. how do you keep it economic and not military, but what's fascinating is on the russian end. when you look at what the russian press, which is mostly government controlled and what the russian politicians have been saying, so, for instance, rushkopf said the other day that all of this is an american-obama plot. so on our side of the ocean, people are saying obama is wimpy. in russia they are saying, no, he's manipulating the cia, not just in syria, in egypt, but going back to the balkans and now he's meddling in russia and

ukraine, and they are all looking at obama as if he's 20 feet tall and manipulating things. so the reason i mention this is that perceptions are very different in different places, and we tend to assume that the russians are looking at obama as a wimp, when actually they are looking at him as somebody who is meddling in their affairs. >> vladimir putin's purposes to say he's the big bad guy who's getting his nose where it doesn't belong, when, in fact, the criticism of the president, and you can, you know, say that the question for him is, is he tough enough. >> no, i'm saying that should not be the question. >> but that's the question some people are asking, but he's the one who said, and this is the criticism of him, listen, vladimir putin, there are going to be costs for military intervention. what are those costs, what are we willing to do. >> right, so where obama is being smarter now, having muddled things on syria, is he's

not drawing red lines. and saying, you know, if you cross this line, there will be "x" and "y" consequences. instead, he's using other economic pressure points. they may stay away from the g8 and other things to send a message. obviously, he has to respond, but it's important that he not respond in ways that trap the united states and put us on a course of action that we can't walk back. and that's why it's critical that the responses be in these economic areas and these 21st century areas, rather than in the 20th and 19th century more military frames on the issue. >> and as if that isn't enough on his plate, peter, it's, obviously, not the only foreign policy issue that president obama is dealing with. he's going to meet with benjamin netanyahu at the white house. they've been preparing for this for months. so what about that meeting? >> this is a critical time for this meeting to be taking place. next month, april, is the end of

this nine-month period. the deadline that the u.s. is imposing for israel to kind of come to some terms on the framework for peace talks to take place. going forward, the president will appeal to prime minister netanyahu about the need to go forward with the peace talks and jeffrey goldburg spoke to president obama over the weekend and what was a pretty striking conversation. i want to put up on the screen some of what the president told jeff he will be saying to prime minister netanyahu today. he said the message will be this, if not now, when, and if not you, mr. prime minister, then who? then president obama took sort of a sharper turn, he said he doesn't believe the peace deal with the palestinians is the right thing to do and he added, it's hard to come up with one that is plausible. chris? >> peter alexander, jonathan alter, a lot of issues of tremendous weight going on at the white house today. thank you both for helping us to wade through them. in the meantime, this very

real consequence, stocks are down sharply. courtney reagan is here with what's moving your money. give us a little more insight on how wall street is reacting. >> chris, it's the economic uncertainty that really is the ripple effect throughout world markets, not just here in the united states. it all just puts global growth in danger. we're all very, very interconnected, more so than we have ever been before, and also keep in mind with the russian involvement, the united states doesn't agree with, we've got $38 billion in trade with russia that's in potential danger of ending here, too. it's real money at stake and a lot of economic uncertainty throughout the world. >> meantime, very real consumer issues, and you'll pardon the pun that consumers could soon have a beef with meat prices. cattle prices way up there, record high, near record high. >> exactly, near record highs. sooner or later, us as consumers were going to see those higher prices at the grocery store and this time it's because of tighter supplies. it's also partly weather

related, so the central united states have seen prices for years to tighten herd sizes, so the ranchers are holding on to the female cattle to rebuild the herds, but that means less cattle available for slaughter. hard to say, but it's true, and less supply of beef products for consumers, so prices are sitting at new highs, jumping 10% so far this year. we should expect to pay 3% to 4% more for beef products in the coming year. that's on top of the 2% increase that we felt last year. hog futures also at higher levels, but that's because of a swine virus that killed millions of young piglets. so again, dwindling supplies. >> cnbc's courtney reagan. it was a great night on the red carpet if you watched the oscars, and if you look at the best dressed list, the hands down most acclaimed also took home an oscar statue. my best dressed list also

includes jennifer lawrence, love the red. charlize theron, sandra bullock, and the dress i want most in my closet belongs to cate blanchett, who also got the best accessory, the oscar.

in political war rooms around the country, a surprising, even shocking, finding that the single most critical voting block for democrats if they want to vote with the majority in the senate may be working class white men. great reporting today by the new york times jackie calms. look how that voting block slipped away from democrats. no democratic presidential candidate has won a majority of white male voters since lyndon b. johnson in 1964. jimmy carter didn't do it when he won in '76. bill clinton didn't do it when he won in '92, and while white male voters supported obama's candidacy in 2008, that number

fell in 2012. let's bring in our strategists, the grio.com contributor and political analyst zerlina maxwell and suzanne del percio. good to see both of you. we talked about this ad nauseam, democrats made great strides with women voters and nonwhite groups. what happened, zerlina, to working class white men, and can they fix it? >> they can fix it, but it's really why white men are very important, because the makeup of that electorate is very different from a presidential election year, so like you said, you know, democrats haven't won the white male vote in those presidential election years, but in 5 of 6 of the past presidential elections when they didn't win the male vote, they won the election, so the midterm electorate is very, very different. i think democrats can push the minimum wage. i think they can make these issues that generally get framed under women's issues, family

issues, american issues, and that will help. >> that is what they think, susan. the democrats believe minimum wage is a winning issue for them. this is a working class we are there for you kind of issue that republicans have been, frankly, obstructionist about. >> i think at the same time that working class white voter is looking at things like, oh, if we do the minimum wage, is that going to hurt jobs? they think about job creations, about republicans probably putting more money in your pocket. that's what we've seen, but what's interesting is when you look at younger male voters, they are more open to the democrats, and that's a problem that's going to face the republicans in years to come. in 2014 it's not going to be a problem and the democrats are wise to try and target, but the republicans are going to start having a probably in about four to six years when it really will change dramatically. >> part of the thing we do now because of computers and they've

gotten sophisticated about knowing who voters are, there are very specific senate races where this could make a difference, this midterm. red state, georgia, arkansas, virginia, part of it to emphasize the minimum wage, as you said, zerlina, but they might also have to abandon any gun control push that they have thought they wanted to do. >> absolutely, but i think the states we're talking about are states in which in 2008 president obama, it was a wave, right, so many of these democrats wouldn't have won had it been any other presidential year, so these are tough battlegrounds for democrats generally. it's not necessarily that 2014 and obama's lagging poll numbers mean that democrats are in more trouble than they would have been normally. i think this is very much the status quo. i think that we need to focus on the fact that the gop has white men, but they haven't reached out to women of color, people of color, lgbt community, and they need to be doing that. >> to your point, they volt less

in midterm elections. than these white working class men. opening, obviously, these opportunities in these states, susan, for republicans, but what are they doing that they can't sit back and say, well, you know, we'll see this to the democrats because we feel confident about what we're doing. >> well, first of all, they have to be careful of who they elect or put in the primary, because their general election candidates have been known to shoot themselves in the foot and lose the election, so they have to have very strong candidates, but looking forward, i don't think it's going to happen in 2014, but the republicans should look to target women, minorities, everybody, and do the work frankly the democrats have done in that area and you'll see a bit of a role reversal in who's targeting who, but with the technology we have now, it's probably more likely that the democrats are going to be able to go after middle class white voters stronger because

there's more available data there. >> all right. susan, zerlina, always good to see both of you. thank you so much. and today's tweet of the day comes from forbes, which today released its annual list of the richest people in the world. the richest in the u.s., one, bill gates, warren buffett. ♪ nothing says, "you're my #1 copilot," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone.

[ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. this is mike. his long race day starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines"

stamp to nbcuniversal's coveragens of the biggest loser olympic winter games ever, with the most coverage of the most events on every device. and the most hours of streaming video on the nbc sports live extra app, including the x1 platform from xfinity. comcast was honored to bring every minute of every medal of nbcuniversal's coverage to every screen. so what's next? rio 2016. welcome to what's next. comcast nbcuniversal.

to politics now and one of the impassioned speeches at the oscars last night from jared leto on winning supporting actor for his role as an hiv transgender woman in "dallas buyer's club." >> to all the dreamers out there around the world watching this tonight in places like the ukraine and venezuela, i want to say, we are here, and as you struggle to make your dreams

happen, to live the impossible, we're thinking of you tonight. and to those of you out there who have ever felt injustice because of who you are or who you love, tonight i stand here in front of the world with you and for you. thank you so much and good night. >> and then check out this real life oscar moment, a group selfie that's turned into the most retweeted tweet ever. ellen degeneres tweeted it out, saying, quote, if only bradley's arm was longer. best photo ever. 115,000 retweets in the first minutes, crashed her twitter account and 33 minutes later, it had defeated the reigning champion, president obama and his four more years tweet and a photo that was the previous record holder. in case you missed it, "tonight" show host jimmy fallon made good on his promise and took the polar plunge this weekend with an icy dip into lake michigan.

he tweeted out this selfie after, saying, "officially plunged, thank you, chicago, thank you, mayor mayor, #polarplunge, #cold never bothered me anyway, # frozen. and california's governor is worried about pot. >> advertising and legitimacy, how many people can get stoned and still have a great state or great nation? world's pretty dangerous, very competitive. i think we need to stay alert, if not 24 hours a day, some than more than the pot heads might be able to put together. >> people are saying remember when he was called governor moon beam? that was his previous term. that wraps up this hour of "jansing and co." i'm chris jansing. "news nation" is up next. i'll see you back here tomorrow. ♪ your love ♪ ♪ love keeps lifting me

♪ ♪ higher and higher [ male announcer ] lift your love with new gain flings! more gain scent than ever plus oxi boost cleaning power and febreze. it's our best gain ever. ♪ higher and higher ♪ higher and higher [ male announcer ] new gain flings! what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'.

[ woman ] hop on over! predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented.

no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. transferred money from his before larry instantly bank of america savings account to his merrill edge retirement account. before he opened his first hot chocolate stand calling winter an "underserved season". and before he quit his friend's leaf-raking business for "not offering a 401k." larry knew the importance of preparing for retirement. that's why when the time came he counted on merrill edge to streamline his investing and help him plan for the road ahead. that's the power of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america.

"news nation" is following two major stories this morning, russian commander in ukraine as secretary of state john kerry prepares to head to ukraine in a show of support, but first, we start with this winter weather affecting millions of people in the midatlantic and the east coast three days into march. in fact, these are pictures, images, from nasa of the massive storm from space. you see it just crippling part of this country. right now, the storm is continuing to move east with heavy snow and ice, making for hazardous conditions. at least five states you see there on the side of your screen have declared a state of emergency, including new jersey, tennessee, delaware, mississippi, and virginia. here's a live look at washington, d.c., where most of federal offices are shut down, along with schools. parts of the east coast could see up to a foot of snow with d.c. and the atlantic states

seeing a layer of ice and up to ten inches. more than 2,000 flights in and out of the u.s. cancelled. right now, tens of thousands of people without power in tennessee, texas, arkansas, missouri, mississippi, and kentucky, after icy weather hit yesterday. freezing rain could cause more widespread outages by the end of the day. jim cantore has the latest for us from washington, d.c. >> reporter: how about this, winter's just cranking it out here. we've seen our temperature go from 37 degrees down to 17 degrees, so we've dropped 20 degrees since midnight. 20 degrees. of course, if you think about what happened to the roads yesterday around 50, now we refreeze them and you have a solid cake sitting on these road surfaces. cars are moving, because it's pretty flat, but once you start getting on a hill or two, in and around washington and baltimore, it gets ugly. i'll tell you, if we can get this stuff up